Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty says its audience in Russia is growing significantly but that the government there has escalated its effort to force RFE/RL out of the country.
President Jamie Fly said the organization has been targeted “because we continue to provide a growing audience in Russia with objective news and information at a moment when the Kremlin is trying to limit access to information.”
The organization said that Russia’s media regulator plans to serve RFE/RL with a new round of 130 charges, bringing its total alleged violations to 520 just in the past several months.
RFE/RL says it has almost doubled its audience in Russia over the past five years, reaching an estimated 6.7 million people. That includes social media videos produced by Current Time and online audiences for the Russian Service.
It noted that U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken this week expressed concern over these Russian efforts.
